Empty Spiral
by The Human Kalei-doscope
Summary: A wild oat from Max's past comes back and endangers the entire Tennyson family. Will Max own up to his responsibility? Or run and hide? Upgraded for smoother story line
1. Denial

_Hello there! After much thought, I've decided to update and fix up my Ben 10 fics. I know I have a butt load of spelling and plot erros, so I wish to correct them. I hope you like the new, polished version of 'Empty Spiral'._

_Disclaimer: I dont own Ben 10. Man of Action and CN has the goods. I only own Eloi and other characters you dont recognize. Savy?_

**Empty Spiral**

_**Chaptire I**_

_"Oh no,_

_here it is again_

_I need to know_

_when I will fall in decay_

_Something wrong_

_with every plan of my life_

_I didn't really notice that you've been here_

_Dolefully desired_

_Destiny of a lie_

_Set me free_

_your heaven's lie_

_set me free with you love_

_set me free."_

- Lacuna Coil "Heaven's A Lie".

Carnivals always held a sort of mystical quality for Max Tennyson. They always came and went, a circle that feed into itself. It made Max feel nostalgic as he and his grandchildren, Ben and Gwen, walked through Verde Springs Summer Carnival. Ben was feeling particularly hyper that day, bouncing up and down like a six-year-old hoped up on seven strawberry ice-cream cones.

"Grandpa, lets go on the roller coaster!!! Please!!" Ben pleaded, trying the Bambi eye technique on Max. Gwen wasn't impressed.

"No way. You cant trust these cheap carnie rides that are always being taken apart and put back together." Gwen said to her over excited cousin. Ben didn't care.

Max stood and watched his grandchildren bicker back and forth. Feeling charitable, he took out his wallet and pulled two bucks. Ben looked at the money with wide eyes.

"Grandpa, you do know that the tickets are only 50 cents?" Ben asked.

"Yes, but I think that tonight we can afford to splurge a little. We don't get to go to many carnivals that doesn't have any odd things happen." Max said, remembering the last time they were at a carnival. Bens' eyes widened with glee and he raced off to the ticket booth.

"Remember! We meet back at the RV at 5' sharp." Gwen shouted to Ben, hoping that he heard her.

"Well, I'm going to the game booths, okay grandpa?"

"Fine, Gwen. Just try not to use all your money on one game. They always make it hard to win." Max advised his granddaughter. Gwen smiled and headed for the games.

Max sighed and just wandered around the fair grounds, trying to enjoy the time he had to himself. Not that he didn't love his grandchildren, its just that everyone needed some personal time now and then. He made his way past the outdoor stage where some rock band he'd never heard of was playing. Max stopped for a moment, trying to catch some of the lyrics that were being sung.

_"Hanging with Simon in the Phantoms lair,_

_Musing with Ayanami without care._

_Nothing in particular; I think about alot_

_Waxing on the subject that takes up all my thought._

_Last night I sailed through the Black Sea;_

_I wandered the world over and frolicked in the free._

_I sang a Tom Waits song, and painted a gray portrait;_

_The Witch Queen calls me up; I have to be there by eight."_

Max shrugged. He couldn't figure out what the frag these people were singing about. Some New Wave poetry stuff, or whatever. Max continued walking, un till he got to the fence that separated the Fair Grounds from Verde Lake. He leaned against the fence, listening to the combined sounds of the waves, the concert, and the fair. It was a symphony that soothed Maxs' worn soul.

"Hmmm. Life doesn't get any better than this." he said to himself. He listened again, and found a new note in the soothing symphony. It sounded close. Max turned his head to his left and saw a young girl crouching on the cement fence, staring out onto the lake. She was humming a classic song, sounding like something by Beethoven. Max looked harder and saw that she was completely pale. Her skin was so white, and her hair was practically snow white, only to be contrasted by her black clothing.

"Perhaps she's and albino?" Max thought. He turned away, not wanting to be rude by staring at her. She stopped humming and spoke up.

"I like the classics. They have so much more character than the majority of the music these days." Her voice was a little low for a girl, but feminine enough to show she was a female. She looked over to Max, wearing a pretty smile on her face. Her eyes were not red, like they would be for an albino. Instead they were dark, almost black.

"Having fun, miss." Max asked. The girl chuckled slightly.

"In a manner, yes. So what brings you here? Tourist right?" she said.

"Yes. I'm taking my grand kids cross country for the summer."

"Wow, that must be fun. I never get to go anywhere, myself." said the girl. Max smiled at the girls frankness and friendliness. She then hopped down from the fence, and walked towards Max. She held out her hand gracefully.

"By the way, my names Eloi Poe. That's L-O-E, okay. People have trouble saying my name right."

"Well, I'm sure I wont get it wrong in the future. I'm Max Tennyson. It's a pleasure."

They shook hands, all the while Max felt a little odd. Like a strange sense of deja vu washed over him. He knew he had never met this girl before, but something about her seemed so familiar. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard his name being called out.

"Grandpa!!!" called Ben and Gwen. Max looked behind him and saw his grand children running toward him. Had his focus remained in front of him, he would have seen a look of murder on the albino girls face.

"What are you two doing here so soon?" Max asked. The two looked at him puzzled.

"Grandpa, it's 5:15. We got worried and started looking for you." Gwen said. Max looked at his watch and it proved Gwen right.

"Oh my God, how did it get so late. Sorry, kids." Max said. He turned around to say goodbye to the girl, bout found that she had left already. Feeling a little sad, Max turned around and walked with Ben and Gwen back to their rusty old RV.

Little did he know that Eloi was watching him from a tree near the fence. Her dark eyes burned with a hatred that could blacked the purest of hearts.

The tree branch she was grasping broke in her hand, pushing some large splinters into her hand. Eloi didn't even notice as she stared holes in the back of Max Tennysons' head.

"That's right Tennyson. Enjoy your day out with your faux family." she spat like a cobra spits venom. "It will most assuredly be your last."

The smile she gave was a complete contrast to the one she gave Max. This one showed the true psychotic nature that lurked under her pearly skin.


	2. Anger

Part II. I alterted some plot points so the events of my sequel 'House of 1000 Weirdos' makes more sence.

Disclaimer: See chaptire I.

**Empty Spiral**

_**Chaptire II**_

_"Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear_

_Sealed with lies through so many tears_

_Lost from within, pursuing the end_

_I fight for the chance to be lied to again_

_You will never be strong enough_

_You will never be good enough_

_You were never conceived in love_

_You will not rise above_

_They'll never see _

_I'll never be_

_I'll struggle on and on to feed this hunger_

_Burning deep inside of me"_

- Evanescence, "Lies".

The radio in the RV was staticy and annoying, but it was the only thing keeping Max awake until he found that rest stop he knew was around some place. Through the high-pitched squeaks and cackles, he could make out the words to The Eagles 'Witchy Woman'. Max mouthed the words and tried to focus on the road, hoping he wouldn't hit a rouge raccoon or the like.

Max looked to the back of the vehicle, and smiled at the sleeping forms of his precious grandchildren. They were both the spitting image of their respective fathers. Ben had inherited his father Kenneth's brown hair and nose. Gwen got her ginger hair and chin of her father Glen. Max sighed and let his heart melt for a second, remembering how both his sons once were once the spitting image of himself. Though recently, Max had learned that there were some traits that one didn't inherit from family...

Family. That made Max think back to his beloved late wife, Emily. His dearest Em. She had past away years ago, Ben and Gwen never even knew her. They only knew what the family told them about her. And that made him think back to the albino girl Eloi. How oddly familiar some things about her seemed.

Her round nose, dark eyes, short fingers. So familiar. But why?

A loud honking snapped Max into reality as he swerved to avoid a truck. With that sudden adrenaline boost, Max wast so sleepy anymore. Checking the kids, they seemed unfazed.

"Good grief," Max thought. "These kids can sleep through anything." At last Max saw the turn off for the rest stop. He pulled in and parked the rusty old RV. At long last, Max stretched his aching appendages and promptly fell asleep.

_The Mount. Rushmore base was in a frenzy. An alien civilian transport ship had been shot down by accident my some missile happy communist party that shall go un-named for now. Maxwell Tennyson was 37, a handsome, strapping fellow that made the ladies blush when he walked by. But they didn't matter to him. Max was still holding on to the hope that the one girl he had eyes for, Emily Wells, would finally notice him. Emily was one of the nurse' working at the base that treated the wound agents the got banged up out on the field. _

_Max felt an elbow in his ribs. He looked at his partner and friend, Phil Kaufman, who was giving him a look that said, 'Pay attention and get your rear in gear.' Max had no choice but to obey. The door to the transport van opened and The Plumbers fanned out around the wreckage, trying to find any sign of survivors. _

_Max poked around the debris with his laser rifle, careful not to poke someones eye out. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a faint sign of movement. He raced over to the place, lifting broken piece of the craft from atop the survivor. He lifted one last panel and was greeted with the sight of a young Nomisanian woman. The white skin and hair were proof of that. _

_Max gently lifted the woman into his arms, careful not to injure her further. He patted her face, trying to course a response from her. She open her eyes, which were like twin pools of amethyst. She lifted a hand to put on his face, like a blind person. Max blushed, feeling like a junior high boy being touched by the most popular girl in school. He hoped the universal translators that were installed in the collars of the uniforms worked._

_"My name is Max Tennyson." ha said, hoping he had sound calm and assuring. "I'll be taking care of you now." the Nomisan woman's eyes grew calmer, and she smiled. Max smiled back._

_"Weena. I am Weena." she told him. _

"Weena." Max whispered in his sleep. He rolled over onto his side, only to be jolted by the sudden movement of the RV. He was thrown out of his seat, as were Ben and Gwen.

"Holy cow! What was that?!" Ben shouted. Max slapped his hand over his grandson's mouth, hoping it would muffle his shouts.

"Shush. Keep quite you two. I'm going to check it out. Just stay quite and lay low. I'll be back." Max, opened a hidden panel in the floor and pulled out a laser pistol he kept for emergencies. Max slowly open the door, and inched his way outside. He rounded the RV, his old training from his Plumber days coming back. After checking out the RV and the surrounding area, Max felt confused as he had not found any signs of an intruder, or the blast that rocked the place.

This didn't add up. You don't blow something up and there not be any sign of it. Unless... unless it was a distraction.

"Shit!" Max cursed and ran back to the RV. He threw open the door and found the place totally ransacked. Everything was in disarray. And worst of all, no sign of Ben or Gwen. Max cursed again, and thrust his fist into the metal door. He felt the skin of his knuckles break and hissed at the feel of the blood touching the air. He regained his composure, _"You wont help them this way." _he said to himself. He turned around to go back outside again, only to have a fist hit him dead on. He was flung back into the RV, blood pouring for his broken nose.

"Who the hell are you!" He demanded of his shadowy intruder. The figure didn't answer, only stepped aside to reveal Ben and Gwen bound and gagged, lying on the ground. Gwen had tears of terror welling in her eyes, while Ben was fumbling around in his restraints, trying to reach the Omnitrix. But the ropes covered the device, making it impossible for Ben to dial in an alien hero to remedy this situation.

The shadow pointed to them, and spoke with it's mind. _"If you want your terk'quat spawn returned to you, meet me in the next town and we shall discuss things further." _By they way this thing talked, (or though, take your pick), it wanted to do anything but talk.

"What do you want with them?! Tell me, damnit!" Max demanded again. If he didn't know better, Max could have sworn the thing was smiling under that hood it wore.

_"All in good time, Mr. Tennyson."_ Max lunged for it, but was knocked aside with a back-handed slap. The thing put the kids over it's shoulders and disappeared into the humid summer night.

Max yelled with rage. How could he have let this happen? How could he have been so careless? And now his grand-children were at the mercy of some crazed psycho. Max started the RV and pucnhed the gas, not caring that he was going significantly over the speed limit.

Ben's' head felt like it had been used as a soccer ball for the British World Cup. And his hands felt even worse. Ben struggled against the restraint's that held his arms over his head. After 5 minutes of chafing his wrists with rope burns he gave up. He observed his surroundings. It looked like a warehouse that no one had used in a long time. Typical bad guy hiding spot.

"Gwen?" he called for his cousin.

"I'm behind you, dork bag." Gwen chidded from the other side of the pillar they were tied to. Ben craned his neck as far as it could go, so he could see Gwen a little better.

"You okay." Ben asked.

"Other than the headache, fine. You?"

"Same here. You didn't, by chance, happen to get a good look at the psycho who kidnapped us?" Gwen was hesitant to answer.

"Hey, did you here me?" Ben asked louder. Gwen kicked Ben in the back of his leg.

"Yes, I heard you. And yes, I saw him because he's sitting three feet away from me."

Ben wished he could switch places with Gwen, he really wanted to get a good look at the jerk who kidnapped them.

"Hey, you Freddy Krueger wanna be!" Ben shouted with all the bravado he could gather. "If you want the Omnitrix, you'll have to peel it of my cold, dead arm!"

Ben then really wished he could take that comment back. After nearly losing his arm the last time he fought Vilgax, he was pretty sure this guy would do the same thing.

_"I have no interest in that tasteless bit of glorified arm wear you posses."_ he said telepathically again. But slowly, the garbly voice he used was getting more human, more femimine.

"Think about it Ben." Gwen told her clueless cousin. "If he wanted the Omnitrix, why kidnap the both of us? Why not kill us and get it over with?" Ben wanted to scratch his head right now.

"Uhhhh... I don't know! Hey, what do you want with us anyway?" Ben directed his last question at their capture.

_"You're just the bait to lewer the stinking fish, Tennyson." _By now, the voice had become a female voice. A little low but still girl enough. _"He is the one I want."_

"Why our Grandpa? What did he do to you?" Ben shouted.

_"Grandpa? The father of your father? I forgot that humans age faster than Nomisanians.'"_ She said. While he had been play 20 questions, Ben was working hard to free his left arm. If you could just get to the Omnitrix, he could get them out of here in no time. Gwen moved more to her left, further obscuring their captures view of Ben.

_"To answer your first question, terk'quat boy. I have vowed to avenge myself on all those who were spawned from his g'haked loins. Including myself..."_ She trailed off from there.

"What do you mean..." Gwen didn't get a chance to answer since the rope holding her arms up was broken by Ben in the form of Fourarms. Ben tore the pillar out of it's foundations and tossed it at the woman. She lifted her hand and the pillar was enveloped in a lavender color energy and it stopped in mid air. Her arms flew backwards, taking the pillar with it.

"And to answer your second question: He brought me into existence!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, sending a mass wave of telekinetic energy that lifted everything in the warehouse for a moment and dropped it to the ground. Gwen rubbed her sore tush and looked back at the girl. Her hood had been blown off during her little tantrum, and that white skin and hair was unmistakable to the Tennyson cousins.

"It's you! The girl grandpa was talking to at the carnival!" Ben said, still in Fourarms mode. "If you've got something against my grandpa, you'll have to take it up with me!" Ben charged at her, swinging all four arms wildly like he expected to hit something. Elois' eyes started to glow lavender, and Ben's body was rendered immobile with one thought.

"As powerful as the Omnitrix makes you, terk'quat, physical prowess is no match to the mind power of the Nomisanian race." Eloi pratically gloated. Ben struggled in the vice grip her mind held him, then the dreaded beep of the Omnitrix reverted him back to a 10-year old human again. Eloi dropped Ben, apparently not threated by his human form.

"Sit down and wait for Tennysons' arrival. If he shows up at all." Like hell Ben was going to wait. He quickly dialed in XLR8 and hit the button.

"Betcha cant get what goes really fast!" Ben ran as fast as XLR8 could carry him in this place. Eloi nearly got whip lash trying to keep up with Ben's' super speed. Up and down, left and right, round and round XLR8 goes. When he stops only he knows. Her temper flared, growing angry at the boy's failure to cooperate. She closed her eyes and made a sort of meditive hand signal.

Ben stopped, believing she had given up.

"Whats the matter? To slow?" Ben laughed. A smile crept across Elois' face as her eyes snapped open and the floor of the place was glowing with mental energy. Ben loat his balance and fell down. He tried to get up again, but each time he tried he lost balance.

"What the crud did you do?"

"I nullified the axis of the building. As long as the axis of balance here is off kilter, you can't stand up." Ben kept trying, but to no avail. He started feeling sick to his stomach, like he rode the Tilt-A-Whirl ten time in a row. Gwen felt the same from her cover spot. Eloi smiled that smile that could make the Cheshire Cat flinch.

"So, are we feeling properly subdued now?" she asked. She got her answer in the form of an unkown energy blast hitting her square in the chest. She hollered in pain and feel to her knees. Her concentration broke, the axis of balance was restored. Ben reverted back to normal abd cast a hopeful gaze to the warehouse doors. There stood Max, holding some sort of high-tech stun gun, his chest heaving with each breathe he took. Ben and Gwen raced to their grandfather, Max dropped to his knees to embrace his beloved grandchildren.

"Kids, I'm so sorry." Max said whole-heartedly to them. The cousins just hugged him their thanks, glad that he had come for them. From across the room, the laughter of Eloi was loud and maddening. The Tennyson family all looked upon the heaving form as she contiued to make even the sound of nails on a chalkboard sound pleasant.

"So...you...actually...came..." She said between gasps for breath. "So your not totally heartless, Tennyson. Well, emphasis on NOT."

"Get behind me you two. No questions Ben." They obeyed. Max raised the gun, and set it to kill. "Now, I want some straight anwers from you. Right here, right now!" Ben and Gwen couldn't remember a time when they'd seen him so angry. Max kept Eloi in his sights as she got up and trudged toward them.

"Go ahead and prove me right and shoot me. At least I'll die knowing I was right."

"Right about what, god dammit!!!!"

"That you never cared about us."

Max was at the end of his rope. One more vague answer and he would blow her head off.

"I don't even know who you are." Eloi looked stunned for a moment, but it soon passed.

"So nothing about me seems familiar? Not these eyes? These hands? Even this skin should be familiar. No?"

Max looked hard at her, and the only conclusion coming to mind was the one he could not believe.

"Weena..."

"Yes. Hello...father."


	3. Despair

Upgrade complete. I hope you all like the more polished version of my fic.

Disclaimer: See chaptire I.

_**Empty Spiral**_

_Chaptire III_

_**don't tell me why**_

_**I'm so near to commit a crime**_

_**When I stay alone here in front of you**_

_**(I'm here)**_

_**Illusion falls when you're not honest about the way I feel**_

_**I know I need only your voice**_

_**Saving all my words only for you**_

_**Forgive me**_

_**Saving all my words only for you'**_

- Lacuna Coil, 'Cold Heritage'

"Hello...father."

Those words hung dry in the air. Max felt his gun slip out of his hand and hit the floor with a resounding ka-chang. Ben and Gwen could only cling to the back of Max's shirt and wonder what the hell this girl was talking about.

"Grandpa, what is she talking about? Who's Weena? What does she have to do with you?" Gwen asked. Eloi laughed again, reveling in the confusion she caused.

"Yes, tell them, father. Tell them of their dear auntie Eloi." Ben was becoming fed up with this girls talking. But he dare not make a move, after being so easily beaten in his alien forms. He then spotted the gun on the floor.

Without a second though, Ben lunged for it. Grabbing it, he took aim at Eloi. But her eyes glowed again, and Ben was wrenched up into the air. Then Gwen was lifted, and they were both promptly thrown out of the whare house.

"So I see their parents never taught them the grace of falling down and staying down." Eloi said. She then made the metal doors shut themselves and lock. Max grabbed a pipe that was on the floor and lunged at her. Still gloating, Eloi was smacked upside the head in her moment of distraction. She crashed to the floor, leaving a flying trail of purple blood in the air.

"Now, tell me who the hell are you?!" Max demanded, not about to take another BS vague answer from this space bitch. Eloi was still, not even moving in breath. Max feared he accidentally killed the girl. That is until her body practically shot up into the air, along with the lavender glow that indicated her use of psychic power.

"Would you like it if I showed you, instead?!"

The lavender hughed light enveloped the whole place, making Max cover his eyes. He then felt a numbing sensation within himself. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in an village square. Well, as far as he could tell it was a village. It looked more like it was designed by Dr. Seuss while he was hopped up on anti-depressants. Max scanned the crowd, and saw the familiar face of Weena, the Nomisan woman he had saved over 25 years ago. But this couldn't be right? How the hell did he get on this planet?

"Welcome to my mothers' memories." Elois' voice said from behind him. Max turned to face her.

"You said I was your father? But that isn't possible, Weena and I never even..." he was hesitant to say the rest. He knew he hadn't touched her the way a man touches a woman, so could this girl be lying?

"You need to think a little more quietly. My concentration is wavering right now." Eloi said. Max turned down his internal volume. Eloi pointed to the woman she claimed to be her mother. "Now watch."

Max saw Weena walking down the street, looking a little peecky. It wasn't until she turned a corner that Max could see her belly swollen with pregnacy. Suddenly Max felt his stomach tighten with uncertainty. He was certain they hadn't done anything that would lead to this.

"Not every species has the same methods of reproduction." Eloi said. "When you found my mother in that wreckage, she was only one day away from her Si' Sia Ama, the time when Nomisan females are ripe for child bearing. Do you remember doing anything with her that could have put her in direct contact with you blood or any other sort of bodily fluid?"

Max though hard on that. The only thing that came to mind was that kiss. That one little kiss...

"We had one kiss. But how was that enough to get her pregnant?" Eloi was silent at first, but Max could see her clenched hands trembling with a great emotion that he couldn't fathom.

"It was enough that she was able to acquire enough of you're genetic material to spawn me, so leave it at that!" she practically shouted at him. Eloi then moved to follow her mothers path. Max followed suit.

They passed by diners, shops, places of social interaction. After a few more blocks, they appeared to enter the more seedy side of the village. Max saw Weena enter a hospital looking place, but he wasn't sure. Eloi waved her hand and the alien language that was written on the sign changed to English.

**Abortion Clinic.**

Max did a double take. He looked to Eloi, but her sour expression told him to say nothing. Max looked back, and saw Weena run out of the clinic, eyes soaked with tears. Chasing her was who Max guessed was the doctor. The doctor was shouting curses at Weena, until he stopped and walked back into the clinic.

Max wanted to run to Weena and take her in his arms, kiss away her tears, tell her that everything would be alright. But he remembered that this was only a mind trip, that he could do nothing to change what had already happened. Eloi walked to her fathers side, looking like she was about to hit him right in the gut.

"What do you have to say, terk'quat?" she said.

"I don't understand? If Weena wanted an abortion, why did the doctor chase her out of the clinic?"

"Because she changed her mind. They Nomisan ways are very different from the human ways. While the concept of abortion maybe taboo in some places of your world, it is very much the norm here."

"So, Weena wanted to abort you and changed her mind. And that's considered wrong here?"

"Women who are with child but have no mate are considered to be soiled by sin. And thus, they are deemed evil by the people. But, if they abort the child and save it from being damned in life, then the woman is free to be accepted once again by her community." Max had to let that sink in for a second.

"And since she decided to keep you... She was hated by her people? And you..."

"I was dubbed 'The Terk'quat Child'. The Child of Sin. The Halfbreed Spawn..." With that, Eloi broke down into a weeping mass of sorrow. Her concentration broken, the village vanished and was replaced by the whare house. Elois' body heaved with each wave of tears, her cries switching form English to nomisan and back again.

Max was flabber-gauhsted. Weither it was some empathic power Eloi had on him or not, Max could feel his soul get heavy with sadness. His own hot tears began flowing, but he refused to break down and cry. Because of his ignorance, his mistake, he had doomed this girl to a life of damnation and misery that she didn't even deserve. All he could to was fall to his knees and embrace the daughter he never knew. Eloi clung to him, soaking his shirt. Max stroked her ivory white hair, wanting to make up for never knowing, never being there when he was needed.

Suddenly, Elois' hands latched onto Max's neck. His breath caught in his throat, trying to find its way to his lungs. Eloi squeezed harder, wanting to strangle her father until his eyes popped out of his skull.

"You think you can suddenly apologize for a lifetime of shame!?" Her dark eyes now glowed red with blood lust. Max could feel asphyxiation coming on. "You never cared about her! You never bothered to find my mother! After all those transmissions she sent you! You never answered one! TERK'QUAT MACH GANCH!!!!"

Maxs' eyes widened with confusion. What transmissions? Eloi sounded like he should know what she was talking about. He tried to speak, but he was 5 seconds away from a black out. Thinking fast, he stuck both sides of her neck with his up-turned hands. Eloi roared with pain. After she realized him, Max took cover, trying to catch his breath.

"What so you mean, 'transmissions'? I never heard from Weena again after she left Earth." Max shouted. Eloi rushed at him like a wild animal. Max side stepped, and she crashed into some milk crates.

"LIAR!!! G'HAKE TERK'QUAT!!! SHE SENT YOU MESSAGE AFTER MESSAGE, AND YOU NEVER RESPONDED. FOR 10 G'HAKED YEARS !"

"Ten years? I retired five years after that night. I wasn't with the Plumbers anymore. I couldn't get transmissions from space any more."

Eloi stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes went blank, looking very much like a toy with dead batteries. Her left eye started to twitch, her mouth moving in a silent argument with her self.

_"You were wrong!"_ / "He's lying!"

_"All this time you hated someone who never knew you exsisted." _/ "He never cared about mother or me!"

_"He's all you have left."_ / "I'll kill him!"

_"He's your father."_ / "I HATE HIM!!!"

Eloi screamed as her powers went out of control. The entire place was bathed in lavender glow as every object that wasn't bolted to the ground began swirling around her like a tornado. Max managed to grab onto something that was bolted down, and he hoped to God that his old hands could keep their grip. Eloi continued her internal battle, not moving except for her mouth that moved a mile a minute. Just then, the door was slammed open, revealing Ben in Diamondhead form.

"Grandpa?!" the craggy voice shouted over the roar of the psychic tornado.

"Ben!" called Max. Ben made his way toward his grandfather, dodging flying crates and hardware. Grabbing Max, Ben trudged out of the place, where Gwen was waiting at the RV. Ben put Max down, only to be tackled by his hysterical grand-daughter.

"It's alright Gwen. We just need to get out of here." Max jumped into the drivers seat, and punched the gas down. As the RV hauled sass down the road, Max looked in the rear-view. The ware house was collapsing, and catching fire. Max shook his head, knowing nothing could live through that sort of thing.

"Grandpa?" Gwen asked. "Who was that girl?" This time, Max couldn't dodge the question.

"A mistake. One I wish I could fix." Gwen left it at that, knowing she couldn't get a straight answer out of her secretive gandfather. Ben, on the other hand, sat at the back of the RV, his mind swimming with questions. All the while, his heart turned cold.


End file.
